John Wright brings downtown development to the forefront of the news again this morning, with this excellent update on the efforts by Ogden's Church of the Good Shepherd to purchase a parcel of real property at the old mall site. This is something that's been discussed before in this space, of course. Mr. Wright does an excellent job of framing the competing interests.The historic downtown church, located at the corner of 24th & Kiesel, has a burgeoning membership, and needs room to expand. They're conducting four Sunday services daily in the little church, and they've reached their physical limits to growth. They've thus made an offer to purchase a small target parcel, adjacent to their existing church. The land is entirely vacant and unencumbered now, and under ordinary circumstances, it would be the time to accommodate this excellent downtown neighbor, who's been holding religious services and preaching the word of the Lord at its present site for over 130 years. There's an aesthetics issue at work here too. Sunlight is streaming through the picturesque church chapel's stained-glass windows for the first time in almost 25 years, now that part of the visually monstrous parking stucture has finally been torn down. In another place and time, I think, selling this parcel to the Church of the Good Shepherd would be regarded as a political "no-brainer."
Things are not so simple these days in Ogden city though, because the central planners have "other" and "greater" ideas. They have a master plan still on the drawing board, which is the only gameplan in town -- as far as they're concerned at least. The plan is designed to maximize tax revenue. There's no room for anything else. The taxpayers have instructed the government to run itself "like a business," with attention to the "bottom line." And like single-minded bureaucrats everywhere, they've taken the concept to its logical extreme. There's apparently no room for expansion of churches in downtown Ogden anymore -- no "room at the inn," so to speak. Churches, formerly one of our society's primary cultural institutions, do nothing for improving the city's tax revenue stream, it seems.
I've been pondering this "running government like a business" theme for some time now; and I think it's time we gave the concept a careful re-examination. This is simply speculation on my part, but I think know what the citizens think: running government like a business indeed means running a tight ship -- watching the bottom line. What it does not mean, however is this, methinks:
- Neglecting revenue-neutral services, like the police and fire departments;
- Ignoring deteriorating revenue-negative infrastructure, like roads and the water system;
- Imposing taxes on fundamental city services, and mis-labeling them user fees;
- Building empty residential taj mahals on lower 25th street, with the sole object of increasing the property-tax revenue base;
- Seizing Ogden city citizens' private property to be replaced by tax-revenue generators like Wal-mart.
- Putting churches, one of society's fundamental institutions, on the community development back-burner.
Chairman Rick Safsten, Dear Leader of the Chamber of the Ogden City People's Deputies, provided a John Wright this surprising quote in this morning's Std-Ex article:
Council Chairman Rick Safsten said he is undecided on the issue. He said many have questioned the way the city built the parking garage around the church, which avoided the wrecking ball only because it is protected by state and federal historic registers.
The church's historic status, as well as the fact it is well-maintained and has been a good neighbor, are factors that can not be ignored, Safsten said.
"All of these things should be added into the calculation, along with the financial analysis," he said.
"We shouldn't treat a house of worship or an historic property with exactly the same consideration as we do a retail proposal. If that were the case, we couldn't make any justification for anything but business, and that is not what life is all about."
Has Chairman Safsten had an epiphany, and finally seen the light? Does he finally recognize that there are other worthy objects, beyond the current tax revenue obsession? Or is he simply playing it politically "smart," on the eve of the Ogden municipal primary election?
So many questions; so few answers.
And what say our gentle readers about all of this?
